What We Talk About When We Talk About Love | 
so-soI finally succumbed to reading this collection, with its title that launched a million derivatives. I can't deny that the writing is beautiful - spare and evocative and singular - but DAMN, the misogyny! The experience was a wild ride between appreciating the deliberate, finely-tuned emotional subtext one minute and then being like, "fucking YIKES" the next. Carver paints his pictures really, really well...I just hate what he's showing me.
pickI found Raymond Carver mentioned in another book, and didn't get him out of my mind. Now, after reading this book, I know why. He just hits the spot with me. How he writes about every day people in their every day lifes. It felt like he just chose a random flat and took a peak through the window, describing what happens there. The briefness of his texts just intensifies this. I didn't like the hunting talk, though...
pickThis is not just short prose with an open ending but also with an unpredictable plot which invites the reader's imagination to creatively contribute to expand the stories.
This is not for a reader seeking action in a book, but for one interested in the writing style and the fine sense of observation which sheds a particularly distinctive light on common events in people's lives.
so-soI don't read a lot of books by men & generally avoid white male authors from late 20th century. But reading some poems by Carver made me curious about his short stories.
There is great craft to his writing. He skillfully manages to show what is being unsaid while never actually saying what that is. Sometimes that is frustrating. But ultimately, I found the stories unpleasant to read. They are filled with male rage & violence. Not for me thanks.
This was a book that was leant to me by a dear friend. And I hate to say it wasn't “for me“. Okay so first off I am not a huge short story fan. Or little essays or whatever you want to call this. It felt like the stories just ends in the middl of a statement or like just left me a little lackluster (one story - the one the book was named for) was pretty good though. Anyway, So-So #TBRread 17 stories
#WinterGames2020
#MerryReaders
@clwojick
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A Coworker had lent me this book. And I had been meaning to pick it up. We had a very nice lunch and I was like.. grr I haven't started it but it is sitting there telling me to read it! Also it was my #BookSpin (@TheAromaOfBooks) so I really should start it. I've heard good things :)
Revisiting an old friend. Carver has the best first lines.
About to carve this thing up for breakfast
pickOkay so im rating this for the first time even though I've read this book tooo many times to count. I am reading it again and if anyone's looking for supplemental reading while another book occupies your day and maybe a part of your heart...this is the one. Anything Raymond Carver but specifically this one if your intentions aren't just to supplement. It will distract you, make you think and pull at your heartstrings
bailedIf you like short stories that mostly go nowhere and end abruptly & ambiguously then you might like this ... not for me!
I love Raymond Carver‘s stories. Cathedral is probably my favorite short story ever, although it‘s not in this collection. I never realized how creepy some of his stories are until now. “Tell the Women We‘re Going” was very creepy and the epitome of “show, don‘t tell.” “The Bath” is another favorite of mine, but I much prefer the extended version of it I‘ve read and can‘t remember where or what the name was.
my new read this week!
Image is of a handwritten comment from my professor which reads: “Might be representative of the time and place. Have notions about love changed in the last forty years?”
What I find amusing is that I initially read the second sentence as, “Has nothing about love changed in the last forty years?” and thought, “yeah, this is the sort of romantic cynicism you can only achieve through living 30+ years on this planet, just you wait, freshmen.” 😂
pickWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a collection of short stories tackling all kinds of love from the good, to the dangerous, and to the destructive kind.
The prose feels like jumping right into a conversation and when things start getting interesting, you get called out and when you return you realize that the conversation has moved on to another topic but as interesting. Great read!
so-soThis was okay. I usually love short story collections but this one did not really leave its mark on me. Most of the time I do not understand what's happening. There are great stories in this collection but over-all it was just okay.
Tempted to go literal today, but then I remembered the first story in this collection. Raymond Carver is the author who made me fall in love with short stories and "Why Don't You Dance?" is a prime example of his art. #letsdance #septembowie
I do like a minimalist cover #minimalistcovers #jubilantjuly
My husband caught me taking this picture and said "It's like a scene from "The Wire," but with books instead of drug dealers." Astute observation, honey. ??#aprilbookshowers #localauthor
Raymond Carver = Port Angeles, WA
Tom Robbins = La Conner, WA
Elizabeth George = Langley, WA (though I think she moved to Seattle a few years back)
Jon Krakauer = lived in Seattle, WA for 10+ years
#lovetitles #feistyfeb
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I have a lot more titles with love in it than I assumed.
*Current Read*
Review to be up soon on my instagram account. follow there- ai.shoka
😊 keep reading
What we talk about when we talk about love:
The boyfriend list,
The moon and more,
Sorrow's knot(s),
Songs of our breakup,
How to be alone.
What's in your heart?
• • •
#BookSpinePoetry #romanceclass #romantsy
Halfway through this masterpiece.
Each chapter leaves one either with a gaping mouth, or with a "wow" in the heart.
"A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house."
Raymond Carver's writing is a salve for my soul...
I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making. Not one of us moving. Not even when the room went dark.
Ready for the readathon this weekend @24in48 ! I've got this stack and my kindle with some David Sedaris, Jenny Lawson, about 30 other books in my TBR summer stack!
Love this last line in the story "One More Thing."
A drunk LD is kicked out by his girlfriend for fighting with her daughter. Expect description of the complexities and subtleties of an emotional break up scene. Sad, but true.
You see, this happened a few months ago, but it's still going on right now, and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're taking about when we talk about love
pickAmazing characters! Classic dialogue. Beautiful stories about working class America. I love his honest way of describing characters and places in his stories. He lays everything out in the open- no secrets unless by design. Classic Carver.
Why is May 25 full of such magical grit? It's my father's + Raymond Carver's birthday!
Read: a moving birthday tribute to Ray by his brother James (pictured above)
http://electricliterature.com/a-tribute-to-raymond-carver-on-his-birthday-by-his...
Nightstand essential. Sparse yet laden with human idiosyncratic insight. Snare drum tight and sharp in focus. This book was my paper gift and will be on my nightstand as long as I have one.
It ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're talking about when we're talking about love.
